Kitchen Diary

…is not just to use chicken. The lady who runs the Polish farm store put me onto this: when making chicken soup in addition to the oldest, toughest soup chicken you can find, add a handful of beef bones. I’ve never looked back.

It doesn’t make the soup taste of beef, it enhances the chicken flavour like nothing else. The gelatine in the beef bones also creates that lip sticking flavour that makes a good soup great.

Other ingredients: Carrots, celery root, red onion, a head of garlic and whatever else is in the stock bag. Parsley, black peppercorns, a bouquet garni if you’ve got it, otherwise just some bay leaves. I’ve experimented with the addition of half a star anise, which is nice and warming. During summer, I throw in tomatoes that are past their best, in winter it’s root vegetables all the way.